Robert Shafto (sometimes spelt Shaftoe) (circa 1732 – 24 November 1797) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

between 1760 and 1790. He was the likely subject of a famous North East English folk song and nursery rhyme " Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea" (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

#1359).

Biography

Robert Shafto was born around 1732 the son of John Shafto and his wife Mary Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson of Nunnington, Yorkshire at his family seat of Whitworth near

Spennymoor Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe. History Origins The ...

in County Durham. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

from 1740 to 1749, when he entered Balliol College, Oxford.Jessica Kilburn, 'Shafto, Robert (c. 1732–1797)' ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) He succeeded to the family estates on the death of his father John in 1742. Both his father and uncle Robert Shafto had been

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. He continued this tradition, becoming one of the two members for County Durham in 1760, using his nickname "Bonny Bobby Shafto" and the now famous song for electioneering purposes, defeating the Whig Sir Thomas Clavering, with a campaign supported by Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, who was the prime minister, Henry Vane, first earl of Darlington, and the bishop of Durham. However, once in parliament he dropped this allegiance, supporting the administrations of

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

and

Pitt the elder William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British statesman of the Whig group who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him Chatham or William Pitt the Elder to distinguish ...

. He held the County Durham seat for two parliaments until he declined to stand in the election of 1768. On 18 April 1774 Shafto married Anne Duncombe (died 1783), daughter and heir of Thomas Duncombe of

Duncombe Park Duncombe Park is the seat of the Duncombe family who previously held the Earldom of Feversham. The title became extinct on the death of the 3rd Earl in 1963, since when the family have continued to hold the title Baron Feversham. The park is si ...

, Yorkshire, by his marriage to Diana Howard, a daughter of Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle. Shafto and his wife had three children, John (1775–1802), Robert (1776–1848), and Thomas (born 1777).John Burke, ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry'' (1837)
p. 49
/ref> His wife, Anne, had inherited property in the

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

of Downton in Wiltshire and he became one of its two members in 1780. He is known to have supported

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

during the regency crisis of 1788–9 and did not seek re-election in 1790. Robert Shafto died on 24 November 1797 and is buried in the Shafto family crypt beneath the floor of Whitworth Church. He was succeeded in his estates by his elder son, John Shafto.

The song

The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of Brancepeth Castle, County Durham, where his brother Thomas was

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, when he married Anne Duncombe of

in Yorkshire. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news, although other sources claim that she died a fortnight before the wedding of

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

.Whitworth Hall history
, URL accessed 30 September 2006. Even if the song was not composed about him, his supporters almost certainly added a verse for the 1761 elections with the lyrics: :Bobby Shafto's looking out, :All his ribbons flew about, :All the ladies gave a shout, :Hey for Bobby Shafto!I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 90–1. Thomas and George Allan, in their ''Tyneside Songs and Readings'' (1891), argued that the "Bobby Shafto" of the song was in fact a relative, Robert Shafto (1760–1781) of Benwell.Famous North Eastern names
, giving this opinion. URL accessed 30 September 2006 It is likely that his grandson, Robert Duncombe Shafto, also used the song for electioneering in 1861, with several of the later verses being added around this time.

References

External links

Famous North Eastern people
by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depen ...

Midi file
of "Bobby Shafto" {{DEFAULTSORT:Shafto, Robert 1732 births 1797 deaths People from Downton, Wiltshire People from Spennymoor People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Bobby Shafto Northumbrian folklore Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Songs about politicians Cultural depictions of British men